Paperback 368 pages
Published: March 30,2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Author: Alice Oseman
My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.
Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.
I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.
I really don’t.
This incredible debut novel by outstanding young author Alice Oseman is perfect for fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and all unflinchingly honest writers.
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Alice Oseman was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She is studying English at Durham University, probably due to the expectation of society, but mostly spends her time obsessing over fictional characters, drawing really dumb comics, and complaining about things on her Tumblr, chronicintrovert.tumblr.com. Hopefully, she’ll avoid having to get a real job for the rest of her life.
Alice wrote a book when she was seventeen. That book, SOLITAIRE, was published by HarperCollins in July 2014.
This is the story of.....
Tori, Michael, Becky, Lucas, Charlie...
and the year that changed everything.
The cover of Solitaire fits the book perfect. The cover is dark and yet it is also colorful and grabs your attention. Solitaire is a YA contemporary realistic fiction that is written by a teenager so the teenage views and aspects that are described in the book are brutally honest and feel so real.
The main character Tori is a loner who has friends but doesn't really care if she ever sees or talks to them...she would rather be alone. Tori's favorite things to do are sleep and blog. The only time she ever seems to be at peace is when she is blogging so this becomes her favorite hobby. Tori tends to push people away and is basically anti-social...until Michael begins to attend her school. Michael brings out the good in Tori and she begins to attempt to be social.
"So I open my eyes and wander around the Internet to take my mind off it all, and, once I feel relatively okay again, I fall asleep with the glare of my blog home page warming my face and the hum of my laptop soothing my mind like crickets at a campsite."
While Tori and Michael are beginning their friendship...something else is also beginning. A new anonymous blog named Solitaire is created and its purpose is to play pranks on the students at Tori's school. The pranks all seem to be related to Tori and so Tori begins to investigate and try to determine who is behind Solitaire. Tori begins to realize that she doesn't have to be alone and that the people around her care about her and are willing to help her.
Tori's character is so flawed and yet at the same time so fascinating. She is sarcastic, pessimistic, and also honest. Teenage readers of YA will easily be able to connect to her character. Her story is so real and genuine and Alice Oseman portrays the character perfectly for this genre.
One of my favorite parts about this book is the references that are made about Harry Potter, Twilight, and several other books. The references make the reader feel as though the story is so real and currently happening.
"Your hand is so cold," he says. "You're such a vampire. Do you have any blood?" And then he steps right up to me and says, Kristen Stewart-esque:
"I know what you are."
Solitaire is full of creative and emotional characters and also has a great mystery intertwined in the story. I enjoyed trying to figure out who was behind the pranks and the blog as well. Solitaire is a book about the real life issues and the complexity of teenage life. It is a dark ya contemporary that is full of emotion and yet at the same time humorous and truthful. Fans of YA contemporary books will really enjoy this book....
**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**
**I want to say Thank You to Harper Teen for the opportunity to review this book!!**
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